Amid voting issues, de Blasio calls for 'major reforms' at Board of Elections

Mayor Bill de Blasio said Tuesday that "major reforms" are needed at the City's Board of Elections, amid widespread reports of voter purges and problems at polling sites during voting in New York State's presidential primary.

“It has been reported to us from voters and voting rights monitors that the voting lists in Brooklyn contain numerous errors, including the purging of entire buildings and blocks of voters from the voting lists. I am calling on the Board of Election to reverse that purge and update the lists again using Central, not Brooklyn borough, Board of Election staff," de Blasio said in a statement Tuesday night.

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The Board of Elections confirmed that it had removed 126,000 Brooklyn Democrats from its voter rolls since last fall, in part because the Board was "a little behind" in updating its voter registration records, the Board's executive director Michael Ryan explained to WNYC.

While election days are always tumultuous in New York City and rare is the electoral contest that passes without some kind of malfunction or SNAFU at city polling sites, there were some indications Tuesday afternoon that voters may be encountering even more problems casting their ballots than usual.

De Blasio isn't the only public official taking notice. A spokesman for State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said his office has already received "by far the largest volume of complaints" in an election since 2011, through a hotline set up to receive the complaints. City Comptroller Scott Stringer on Tuesday afternoon announced his intent to audit the City's Board of Elections to assess where changes should be made to smooth the voting process.

"We support the Comptroller’s audit and urge its completion well in advance of the June elections so corrective action can be taken. These errors today indicate that additional major reforms will be needed to the Board of Election and in the state law governing it," de Blasio said in his statement.

"We will hold the BOE commissioners responsible for ensuring that the Board and its borough officers properly conduct the election process to assure that voters are not disenfranchised. The perception that numerous voters may have been disenfranchised undermines the integrity of the entire electoral process and must be fixed.”